Every once in a while I see something so unexpected that I lose my breath. This afternoon I was scanning some more of the slides that were given to us by David Davidson ’57 ’58, enjoying his interesting eye and just generally cooking along smoothly. I noticed that there were some images of the inside of dorm rooms, something I’m always looking for, but it was too hard to make out exactly what they were without blowing them up. So I did.
And I suddenly saw–out of the blue–a dear friend, fooling around in the middle of a first floor hallway in South Hall in the autumn of 1954:
I’d love to know who wound up inside the barrels.
If you ever knew him there could be no mistaking that the young man in the glasses is Jim Kinsey ’56 ’59, who later became Rice’s Dean of Natural Sciences. In the fall of 1954 he lived in South Hall 113. David Davidson lived in 109. I wrote about Jim after his death almost exactly four years ago in this post and I still deeply lament his passing. So today, on this day, I am filled with gratitude to have him returned to me if even for a moment.
Bonus: I have several reader who routinely get to campus much earlier than I do. From two of them I received these images of a golden (if a bit damp) Rice morning.
It certainly looks as if one of their fellow students is in the barrel.
Beautiful image, but where is all that standing water?
Thanks for the compliment. This is behind the old president’s house. It tends to hold water after 4” of rain.
Standing water is between the Entrance 1 driveway and Main Street. It is very noticeable if you are walking the campus perimeter path.
I lived in South Hall Fall 53 to May 58, Rooms 303 and 305. I should recognize the student on the right but can’t recall his name. David Willis also lived on the first floor and ran the laundry service from his room. In a first floor room, all Slims (’53) were gathered one night for a cigar smoke out. There was so much smoke that there was not enough oxygen to support a flame in case your cigar went out.
We freshmen in 1956 were the last class to suffer a smoke out. Conditions were as Bill described – abysmal. It was a Monday bight, and of course our first hour exam in Physics 100 was the next morning. Not conducive for studying later in the evening.
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